Watchdog group issues safety grades to area's hospitals

Volusia-Flagler area hospitals received a report card Wednesday on how well they are doing in avoiding medical errors and preventing infections.

SKYLER SWISHERBUSINESS WRITER

Volusia-Flagler area hospitals received a report card Wednesday on how well they are doing in avoiding medical errors and preventing infections. While all of the area's hospitals earned passing scores, they fared less well collectively in the latest round of grades handed out by The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consumer watchdog group that advocates for safer health care delivery. Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said consumers should educate themselves and ask questions when receiving care. “There are many important considerations when choosing a hospital, but for many people, safety comes first,” Binder said. Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach and Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City scored A's. Fish Memorial was the only hospital to boost its grade in The Leapfrog Group's latest hospital safety scoring, going from a B to an A. Leapfrog, backed by some of the nation's largest employers, released its first round of grades in June, using data mostly from 2010. The latest grades relied on data primarily from 2011. Two local hospitals saw their scores dip in the group's latest report card. Florida Hospital Flagler fell from an A to a C, while Florida Hospital DeLand slipped from an A to a B. Lindsay Rew, a spokeswoman for Florida Hospital, said hospital officials are confident future scores will be higher, noting that grades are based on data from previous years. “We takes these scores seriously and are actively conducting an analysis to identify opportunities for improvement,” she said in a prepared statement. Halifax Health Medical Center, the Volusia-Flagler area's largest hospital, scored a B, the same grade it received in June. Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach remained at a C. Leapfrog formed in 2000 with the objective of stamping out avoidable medical errors and infections. Unexpected adverse events in hospitals contribute to the deaths of 180,000 people a year and add $4.4 billion to government health care costs, according to a 2010 study by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “It's clear it's a very substantial problem,” said Dr. Patrick Romano, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who advised Leapfrog officials in grading hospitals throughout the country. “We still have a ways to go.” The scores are based on 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data, including statistics on bedsores, falls and central-line bloodstream infections. A nine-member panel of experts, including professors from Harvard, Stanford and John Hopkins universities, developed the criteria for grading hospitals. Half of the grading criteria comes from outcomes patients actually experience in the hospital, while the other is derived from a survey of a hospital's policies and procedures. While Leapfrog says the ratings are an easy-to-understand tool for consumers, some hospitals have been critical of the grades, arguing they favor hospitals that participate in Leapfrog's surveys. “Patients should use all available tools at their disposal to identify which health care decisions are right for them, such as talking with friends and family and consulting with doctors, nurses and other health care providers,” said Nancy Foster, vice president of quality and patient safety policy for the American Hospital Association. During the first round of scores, hospital officials locally said they have implemented a variety of measures to improve patient safety, such as using catheters and IVs only when needed to lower infection rates and implementing electronic prescribing systems for medication. In Florida, 39 percent of 156 hospitals evaluated received an A, 24 percent a B, 31 percent a C and 5 percent a D. No hospitals in the state scored an F. skyler.swisher û

HOW LOCAL HOSPITALS FARED: Here's how area hospitals fared in The Leapfrog Group's latest report, compared with their previous grade: 

ABOUT THE STUDY Staggered by the rising cost of health care, a group of some of the nation's largest employers gathered in 1999 to discuss how they could improve the quality and affordability of medical services. Out of this meeting, a nonprofit organization called The Leapfrog Group was created. The group, which conducted the hospital safety study released this week, aims to prevent medical errors that drive up health-care costs. Leapfrog members include General Motors Corp., FedEx Corp., Sprint Nextel, Toyota, Verizon and UnitedHealthcare, a national health insurance provider that is used by The Daytona Beach News-Journal.